President Trump threw a curve ball Sunday when he announced over Twitter that he would not be in New York City next month to throw the first pitch at Yankee Stadium.
Just days after making the announcement that he would throw out the first pitch on August 15, Trump said he will no longer be able to make the commitment due to scheduling conflicts.
Because of "scheduled meetings on Vaccines, our economy and much else," Trump said he wouldn't be able to throw out the first pitch but would "make it later in the season!"
The decision comes one day after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio criticized Yankees executives for aligning "with hatred" by welcoming Trump to the stadium.
Mayor Bill de Blasio condemned the decision to have Trump throw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium on Twitter Saturday. The announcement first came at the president's COVID-19 press conference on Thursday.
De Blasio didn't hold back his words: "After CONDEMNING racism, the next step isn’t inviting it to your pitcher’s mound. To the players that knelt for the BLM movement, we applaud you. To the execs that have aligned with hatred, you are on the wrong side of history and morality."
Trump said that he had been invited to throw out the first pitch at a game at Yankee Stadium in August by Randy Levine, the President of the New York Yankees.
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"Randy Levine's a great friend of mine from the Yankees, he asked me to throw out the first pitch," Trump said. "I think Major League Baseball is setting an example by playing at empty stadiums, and so are other sports."
In attendance for the press conference was a man who knows a thing or two about pitching at Yankee Stadium: Mariano Rivera. Trump said he and the greatest closer in baseball history, who is a supporter of the president, were going to join a group of Little Leaguers outside the White House as a way to commemorate the return of baseball.
"I think it's really good that baseball is opening, it looks like football is opening, it looks like sports are opening. It's a tremendous thing for our country, psychologically," Trump said. "We're going to see some beautiful, young Little Leaguers outside, with a great future ahead of them."
Dr. Anthony Fauci threw out the first pitch at Nationals Park in D.C. to kick off the 2020 baseball season, as the defending World Series Champion Nationals took on Rivera's former team, the Yankees.
The August 15th game against the Boston Red Sox would have marked the first time Trump has taken part in the tradition that every president since William Howard Taft in 1910 has done.
One of the most famous presidential first pitches took place at the old Yankee Stadium, when President George W. Bush had the honors before Game 3 of the 2001 World Series, less than two months after the 9/11 terror attacks.
It would also have been Trump's first appearance at a baseball game since Game 5 of the World Series last year, where he was shown on the jumbotron at Nationals Park. The reaction was mixed at best, receiving a smattering of applause with loud boos, and a cheer of "Lock Him Up."
